Benjamin of Tudela’s description of Cairo (Mizraim) is dominated by discussion of the Nile river. The importance the river has to all aspects of life in the city and its surrounding regions cannot be overstated. It is both a form of protection, eliminating the need for a city wall, and the center of their food production (99). He describes the rising and falling pattern of the river in great detail. The rising of the river is both an important cultural and agricultural event. He draws great attention to the pillar that measures the height of the flooding as a cultural oddity that only exists due to the unusual seasonal changes of the region. He also discusses the ways in which the river’s flooding affects how agriculture is practiced. Bountiful fish end up in farmlands and water covers the earth for two months (100). This pattern is the only thing that allows for any farming in the otherwise arid climate and if it ever fails to occur great famine spreads through the land. Benjamin’s focus on farming in this section differs from his previous descriptions because, while he occasionally had comments about the market goods in other areas, he paid little attention to the process of getting them to the cities. This may be because it was simply standard practice while the Nile creates notable differences, but it could also be a sign that he was only relating other people’s stories rather than his own. He also spends far less time discussing the topics that he usually focuses on like the built environment.
He does acknowledge the similarly unusual structure of the Jewish community in Cairo, another of his standard factors of note. They are divided into two different congregations, those who follow Babylonian customs and those who follow Israeli customs. Specifically, he notes the difference in how they divide the portions of the Torah with Babylonians doing one portion a week and Israelis doing one third of a portion each week (98). He also makes sure to state that the Babylonian method is the same as how the Jews back in his home country of Spain divide the portions. This offers his audience of Jews who may be looking to move to areas of less persecution an insight into which foreign communities are most similar to their own. Benjamin has been, perhaps surprisingly, sparse in his description of the actual religious practices of the Jewish communities he has been documenting because, despite all following the same religion, there were great differences in practicalities region to region. A Jew from Spain may find the observances of a Jew from Baghdad completely alien despite originating from the same text and following the same basic principles. While other elements that would be important to a potential immigrant such as the size of the Jewish community and their status within society are addressed, how easy it would be for a newcomer to fit in is left ambiguous. However, Cairo shows that despite the division of the Jewish community they can still come together for special occasions to practice as a single great unit.